Posts Tagged ‘mexican’

Since moving to Nashville, one of the food areas where my cooking has really expanded is without a doubt, Mexican. Before I came down here, my default cooking tended to be more Asian inspired (stir-frys and the like), but with the abundance of Mexican ingredients down here, I’ve definitely shifted toward foods that are South of the border. I’m sure the fact that Nashville really doesn’t have any good Chinese food (seriously!) is a contributing factor (whereas Toronto has a dearth of Mexican food… so weird!). There are plenty of Mexican places where Tony & I can eat out, but I’ve actually found it really rewarding to try my hand at creating Mexican dishes at home.
A couple of weeks ago we attended a celebratory party for a girl in my lab who had successfully defended her dissertation earlier that day. One of her advisors brought this amazing pork, that was both spicy and sweet, smoky and unctuous. Tony fell madly in love, and ever since then I’ve been trying to get my hands on the recipe. I finally got it last week and decided to try it myself. But here’s a fair warning: once you’ve had pork this way, you may never want to eat it any other way ever again…
Ingredients

1.5 - 2 lbs pork shoulder

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large white onion, diced

3-4 chipotle (canned, in adobo sauce)

2 large ripe tomatoes; charred in the oven for about 30 minutes until skin is easy to remove

3-4 garlic cloves, roasted peel on in a hot pan until blackened in spots, then peeled

If I were to pick my favorite meal of the day, it would have to be breakfast. I love breakfast foods, and even back in my past life as a college undergrad when I pretty much did not cook, I could still be counted on to rock a Sunday breakfast in grand style. Heck, I love breakfast so much that “breakfast for dinner” is a frequent occurrence in the S&TI! household.
Of late, one of my most beloved breakfast offerings has been the breakfast burrito. After much trial and error, I think I’ve found the perfect combination of flavors and ingredients that result in a hearty and satisfying way to start your day (or end it, because they’re filling enough for dinner!), and best of all these burritos are never soggy! (more…)

Ok, we’re a day late so today is technically the seis de mayo rather than cinco de mayo, but let’s celebrate anyway with a Mexican recipe! Ai yai! These chicken enchiladas are adapted from a recipe of a similar ilk over at Simply Recipes, but mine involve more cheese, because come on… everything is better with more cheese! In the process, they are probably less authentic, but given the yum factor, I think all of you can deal with it. These enchiladas take a little bit of prep time, but there’s no real reason why you couldn’t get the whole thing put together in 30 minutes if you really wanted to (you might just slightly singe your fingers if you don’t let the chicken cool sufficiently before shredding). Let’s get to it!
Ingredients (I made this for the two of us, but we had enough for one leftover lunch)
• 1 jar of salsa verde (you could make the sauce from scratch if you can get your hands on fresh tomatillos, but it’s more work, and I think using the stuff in a jar is perfectly acceptable!)
• ½ cup of chopped white/yellow onion
• 2 chicken quarters, cooked, skinned, and shredded (I believe a chicken quarter purchased from the supermarket gives you a drumstick attached to a thigh, perhaps with some back → read: plenty of chicken)
• 1 clove of garlic, cut into quarters
• ¼ of a whole white/yellow onion
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1/3 cup of cream cheese
• 1/3 cup of salsa fresca (tomato based salsa, made of fresh chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, and jalapenos… we buy ours in a big tub from Sam’s Club. This isn’t the really soupy kind you get in a jar alongside tortilla chips. You’ll find this in the refrigerated section of your supermarket (sometimes in the deli, sometimes by the produce))
• 6 flour tortillas (the little size)
• 2 tbsp of sour cream
• 1 bunch of cilantro, stems removed, coarsely chopped
• handful of shredded Mexican cheese (we use the pre-shredded Mexican blend), for garnish
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At the end of my last recipe post, I tantalizingly teased you with the promise of a chili recipe. This is that recipe. So far on this site I have focused for the most part on meals that you can fling together in a jiffy during the week. After all, isn’t that how most of us are cooking most of the time? However, one of my secret weapons for quick meals is perhaps the counter-intuitively named slow cooker. I love this thing because it allows to me toss a bunch of things in a pot, forget about them, and then come back to a meal that is cooked and full of flavor. It’s kind of like magic, or at the very least, having a little house elf to help you out in the kitchen. I trot my slow cooker out about once a week, and its now my go-to appliance for making chili. The thing about chili, in the end, is that the longer it cooks, the more complex and richer the flavors get, and that’s what makes a good chili. Sure, you can get away with just simmering it on the stove for an hour or two, but how does that beat low & slow cooking for 8 hours? Look at the numbers!
OK, so the recipe I’m posting today was made with the aid of my slow cooker. BUT I know that not all of you have one, so I will also tell you what to do if you’re going to go the traditional “pot on stove” method. The slow cooker method is ostensibly easier since you just put everything together, making it a one step dish in the morning, but it’s not as though the other way is hard either. Seriously though, look into getting a slow cooker, ok? They aren’t just for making your grandmother’s casseroles or something bland and gluey, and I promise that they won’t burn your house down if you leave them unattended.
Credit where credit is due, my chili recipe is inspired by Elise’s chili con carne recipe, though I must admit that I’ve never made it the way she does as my chili always has ground beef in it, and shockingly, never any bacon.
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One thing that I've been making a lot of lately has been soups. Nashville has been going through a bit of a cold snap, so soups make a great evening meal that is warming and soothing. Generally I try to make hearty soups that have lots of "fixins" so that they can really serve as an entire meal in their own right. Additionally, I've been trying to make soups that are "heart healthy", meaning I've been staying away from broths that involve a lot of cream. I've also steered clear of soups that are too starchy, as the idea is to make a soup that is filling but doesn’t make you feel heavy afterwards. Another great thing about soups is that they’re relatively simple to put together (even if they generally need about an hour to simmer and steep), and not all that labor intensive. For the relatively nominal amount of effort and ingredients, we often wind up with enough food for several lunches (2 to 3 days) in addition to our supper. All told, I’ve been trying to do one soup dinner per week.
This week, I chose another recipe from Elise’s Simply Recipes site, this time for Albondigas Soup, which is essentially a Mexican meatball soup. I chose this recipe for several reasons: 1) Elise notes on her site that this is a soup that’s meant to be eaten as a main course; 2) It’s really easy to put together; 3)All of the ingredients are ones that you should readily have on hand (with the exception of perhaps one); and finally 4) It comes together really quickly (only needs about 40 minutes)! Once more, I encourage you to check out Elise’s original recipe, although I’ll note that I really didn’t stray too far from her guidelines this time (shocking, I know!). Here’s what you’ll need:
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